I LOVE the 10 foot rule!

I agree we are all too critical of our own work. We start with this vision of how it "should" look when finished. Then we experience all the "obstacles" along the way and see the little things that aren't quite as we first envisioned it. To us it seems imperfect. But to others looking at it, they see only the finished product and appreciate it for what it is, a lovingly made, hand crafted work of art.

I think I'll make a sign for the door of my "Sewing Room" about the ......"finished is better than perfect" then I won't have to explain the flaws in any of my projects....Love that comment!.

I love to find unfinished treasures! For me it is fun to think of an unknown quilter having put so much work into a top and finishing it to the best of my ability. I particularly love antique tops and pay a lot to buy them. Fear no t ladies your quilt tops do get finished with a great deal of love.

10 foot rule.......look at it from 10 feet away
galloping horse rule......look at it while galloping on a horse

In both instances, you can't look too critically!!!

LOL!!! Love it!

I agree 100%

Connie,
If it looks great from 10 ft. away - it's good enough for me. If I still think it's bad, take it out and do it over. Guess what - I hardly ever take anything out and do it over. Just try it once and you'll see.

Yes, we are and I'm one of them. Since 2007 I have finished 1 king size and 2 queen size and 3 regular bed size quilts. They were far from perfect but my family loved them. In fact the king size was to replace a queen size I made 30 years ago for my son and his bride. They still use that one, but someplaces are thinning, so they stored it as an heirloom. I also have made over 200 lap quilts for a veterans hospital. All of them have been machine quilted with the exception of the king size. I'm still makeing, quilting, finishing several tops I have in my stash.

Same thing here .. It is more fun when u let go ...and fire the guilting police !!!!!!!

My friend who does all sorts of 'artsy' crafta and used to do custom orders on some of them, has decided that she will just make what she wants to with what she has, get an etsy (sp?) site set up and if somebody wants what she has, great, if not, no more searching everywhere for that special color yarn or flower or fabric that Ms. I M Particular just has to have, and no more sitting in the heat or cold at outdoor craft shows either.

I am writing down your quote as my quilting teacher is so hard on me by refusing to accept anything but my very best (whether it is my best or not) and I always feel kind of beat down after messing up in her class, she calls me her "Problem child" but the other day she said...it isn't you today Sherrie, and I beamed. A little recognition goes a long way especially to a newbie. I love quilting and would give up cleaning house if I could, someday I will have more confidence, something we all could use I suspect.

As quilters, we (including myself) are very hard on ourselves.

Since it is a craft, I think all of us strive to do our best and continue to improve our skill level.

Nonquilters don't have "that" experience to draw upon.

Wow, I teach quilting in my home. I would never call a student a "Problem Child". I always tell my students to do "their" best not my best. We have a saying in my church that goes like this. "We are not perfect, just progressing". I teach if you can learn from a mistake, it is a lesson well learned. I am sorry you are not enjoying the learning process.

I like the finished is better than perfect quote. Non quilters don't notice the mistakes but they also don't want to pay more for a 'perfect' quilt. They're willing to pay the same no matter the quality of work so if you're selling (which I realize most of us are not) why bother to kill yourself over every detail?

I am now teaching my 9yo DGD to quilt and we decided that mistakes give the project their very own character. Trying to make it perfect was taking all the fun out of it for her. She is currently making placemats and now that she has stopped worrying about it being perfect she is actually doing much better. I did have to point out some mistakes that I had made in some of the quilts that I made. The last quilt that I made she noticed the "big" mistake that I made but told me that she would keep it a secret from DD for whom the quilt was made.

I had to have an outloud chuckle when I read you message. Way to go and I'll have to tell everybody to just look as you pass by.

I just finished a baby quilt and was not happy with it but gave it to them anyway the mother of the baby said it was beautiful and she admired any one who can sew made ma feel better about the quilt. Horay for non sewers they can't see what you did wrong.

Very few of the quilts I have made over the past 13 years are absolutely perfect. There is always something I have found after they are complete and quilted. The following was on a rock given to a gentlemen who had a deformed back. "Nobody are perfect". So some quilts have a mistake..this makes them unique.

I think that we are all too hard on ourselves, we see even the smallest of mistakes. Only another quilter might see your mistakes. The Amish always have a mistake in their quilts, their saying is that no one is perfect, the only one that was , was nailed on the cross.

You may not remember grannys & families quilts waaay back when, now I know they weren't perfect! and hand stitched at that! so why do we think they have to be so perfect? me included. I do remember some of grannys quilts, and they were not perfect, they were used to keep warm in the winter time, I would love to have one of my grannys quilts yeah just for a keep sake. and they did keep us warm too.

This fits me perfectly. I always spend more time thinking about the small percent of error instead of the very large percent of beautiful. I do love to quilt though and that's what keeps me sewing and sewing and sewing and......

Not to get of topic, but quilt addict I LOVE your avatar. It's beautiful!

Whew! You mean all those dozens of quilts that I have done (every one of them has at least one flaw) are loved? (LOL!) We are all being perfected personally. My quilts are getting better as well! I will continue learning to turn out better quilts 'til the day I die! :-)

Thanks for sharing that! I just finished machine quilting a table topper. I love the fall colors and the pattern but my machine quilting leaves something to be desired (in my opinion!). I am not going to be so critical, and just enjoy my efforts!

Personally, I think that unless you point out a flaw, or it is one you can't miss, no one notices them. Don't be hard on yourself. We always are harsher on ourselves than other people would be.

I've noticed that in several shops! Makes me feel much more confident.

The vast majority of the quilts I make are for comfort. Charity quilts are my favorite, the children who get my quilts don't see the mistakes; instead they see a quilt that is theirs to keep forever. Cathy Miller the singing quilter's song entitled "A Quilter's Embrace" says it perfectly. Its all about the reasons we make charity quilts.

To me quilting is a learning process. If you notice that you have problems , you can refer to other quilters, books, courses. Do you know a student that gets a perfect score on every exam or research that she or he completed. Next time I just try to do better!

All I can say is that we are our worst critics. Don't be so hard on yourself.

Good to know.

i think of the 10 foot rule while i am makeing a quilt, but i would like to get it down to a 5 foot rule

After I took my first quilt in and showed the owner of the LQS what I had done and see if she could give pointers for the next quilt, she told me it is a learning process. It doesn't matter at what stage you are with quilting, there is always something to learn. Complete the project, do your best, take pride in what you do and start another.

I am on my way home from spending 4 days taking classes at Quilting with Machines in Huron, Ohio...took 3 classes from Karen McTavish who is a fabulous quilter and she doubts herself and doesn't think her quilting is all that great. :shock: She is so humble about her awesome skills and just a really nice person. I guess if she can be hard on herself, it must be a "creative person's disease"! We put a piece of ourselves in every quilt we make and when it is less than perfect we think it says that we aren't perfect :roll: Lord knows I'm not perfect, but I keep trying...at least with my quilting!!!

I use the 10 foot rule too, but on a galloping horse!

we are always most critical of ourselves, arent we? Hope this boosts your confidence in your work.

On Quilt in a Day, E. Burns uses the 20 mile per hour rule-if you drive by at 20mph and it looks good, it is good. I was kind of bummed about my Tennessee Waltz quilt-things not matching up and i saw the show on tv where E. Burns made one and she was showing examples of the pattern. Guess what? they were not all matched up either. i thought if she could show them on tv, then i could be happy with mine.

I use a 'peep hole' to look thru at my QIP on my design wall and that gives me a better view of what it really looks like because I'm in a 8x10 room. That puts it farther away.

I too, am hard on what I do. Especially if I want to give it to some one not family. The last wall quilt still has a few issues and I will not give it away to the hospital until I am satisfied that it is the best the 'I CAN DO'.

This ,make me laugh as I too are a perfectionist as I make Bridal Gowns for people all over the word.

When my husband and I got married many years ago my Dad and my husband wallpapered our kitchen in our soon to be apartment. I left as my Mom called and asked me to get her something at the store. When I arrived there was a surprise bridal shower for me, so i did not return to the apartment to help finish the wallpapering.

We got married and the first Sunday we were doing the dishes and I looked at the corner of the room and said to my Husband,Oh my god there is a whole strip of wallpaper upside down. He just laughed and said" your Dad said it was the last piece of wallpaper and he was not going to have us but another role to finish it so he lined everything up and said no one would ever see it. My new husband said to him,I know know my bride and she will certainly see it. This month 44 years later he still know how I am. I don't know if the land lord ever saw it.

my saying is "If ya looking that hard, ya looking to buy and I'm not selling" but then again I use that saying on everything I find that is not perfect.